Johannesburg - African National Congress (ANC) secretary-general Fikile Mbalula stated that the formation of the MK Party was not accidental but rather an intentional effort to sow confusion among voters by exploiting the esteemed history of Umkhonto weSizwe (MK).
“The formation of this new party that has hijacked the name, legacy, and symbols of MK is not an accident. It is a deliberate attempt to sow confusion by using the proud history of armed struggle against the apartheid regime to lend credibility to what is a blatantly counter-revolutionary agenda,” said Mbalula, while addressing the media about the outcomes of the electoral court in Bloemfontein on Tuesday.
The ANC had taken former President Jacob Zuma’s MKP to court in a bid to declare its registration unlawful, unconstitutional, and invalid.
The court reserved the judgment and said that the parties' legal representatives would be informed on when it would be delivered.
During the briefing, Mbalula said the formation of break-away parties was a strategy of counter-revolution. He said the goal of this was to stop or derail the National Democratic Revolution.
“Some of the tactics employed by counter-revolution include ‘divide and conquer’; ‘co-opt and corrupt’; ‘capture and weaken the democratic state’, and ‘unleash violence and create instability’.”
“On the other hand, the anti-transformation forces are converging into coalitions whose primary focus is to reverse the transformation agenda led by the ANC,” he said.
He added that the anti-transformation forces were encouraging and funding rebel break-away groupings and small parties in the hope that their efforts would erode the support base of the ANC and force it into coalitions.
Mbalula told the media that it was not too late to challenge the party over the use of the Umkhonto weSizwe trademark.
The ruling party is claiming that Zuma’s party was stealing its legacy.
“Stealing the history, heritage, and intellectual property assets of the organisation is part of the counter-revolution propaganda aimed at communicating a multiplicity of political outposts all claiming legitimacy from the proud history of the ANC,” Mbalula stated.
Furthermore, the secretary-general welcomed the court’s decision and said they would wait for the judgment.
This tension comes only two months away from election day. The 2024 national and provincial elections is set to be held on May 29.
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